"A growing body of evidence shows that family involvement in schooling is linked to students' academic achievement.
But family-school relationships also have definite payoffs in terms of classroom management" (Weinstein et.al., 161). Classroom Webpages- Wiki's and Weebly
Lately, teachers have been making their own class websites to communicate with parents and students no matter where they are. Two fantastic tools that will help you to create websites for your classroom are wikis and Weeblies. A Wikispace is what you are looking at this very moment. It is a free web hosting service best known for its use by k-12 students and teachers. Teachers can have students create Wikispaces on a unit project or use it collaboratively between students on a specific topic (much like my tough topics Wikispaces designed by myself and my other ELD 307 classmates). Wikispaces are free and you can make as many as you want, although you can purchase a number of wikis for your district that can be used collaboratively for $1,000 a year. Weeblies are another website making tool only more professional and easier to design. Weebly has variety of elements to add to your page just by clicking and dragging them into the space and pages are clearly displayed by tabs on the very top of your site. Also select form countless layouts all diverse and unique to your website's goals. With this, Weebly has a much more familiar website feel and would be best for a classroom website, but wiki's are still the best for student use and expression. Either way, parents and the community want to hear from you, so allowing them access to your classes own web page is a significant way to include family and friends into your classroom. Parents may also want to see how their child is performing on school projects, hence, Wikispaces and other online uploading grounds are a great way to let parents view what students are doing in your class and to let them share with others.
Edmodo is a safe and secure social network for teachers and students to connect, collaborate, and communicate. You may find that it looks similar to other popular social networking sites; however, Edmodo is completely devoted to education and is designed entirely for continued learning outside the classroom. Teachers can post education content such as articles or websites, homework assignments, and students’ grades and students can access it from anywhere. Students can even respond to teachers via notes or posts, and on these same boards can teachers hold discussions with students about a specific topic of study or current events. Edmodo's goal is to assist educators in using social media to customize the classroom for their learners. Edmodo promotes anytime, anyplace learning. Teachers can also invite other teachers to Edmodo and share with them content and materials, ideas and plans, or just simply network with them. Edmodo is a tool that will empower educators to embrace social media and use it wisely in connecting with parents and students in the nontraditional school setting. Connecting and informing parents and students is now safe and professional thanks to Edmodo. My Edmodo
Classroom Webpages- Wiki's and Weebly
Lately, teachers have been making their own class websites to communicate with parents and students no matter where they are. Two fantastic tools that will help you to create websites for your classroom are wikis and Weeblies. A Wikispace is what you are looking at this very moment. It is a free web hosting service best known for its use by k-12 students and teachers. Teachers can have students create Wikispaces on a unit project or use it collaboratively between students on a specific topic (much like my tough topics Wikispaces designed by myself and my other ELD 307 classmates). Wikispaces are free and you can make as many as you want, although you can purchase a number of wikis for your district that can be used collaboratively for $1,000 a year. Weeblies are another website making tool only more professional and easier to design. Weebly has variety of elements to add to your page just by clicking and dragging them into the space and pages are clearly displayed by tabs on the very top of your site. Also select form countless layouts all diverse and unique to your website's goals. With this, Weebly has a much more familiar website feel and would be best for a classroom website, but wiki's are still the best for student use and expression. Either way, parents and the community want to hear from you, so allowing them access to your classes own web page is a significant way to include family and friends into your classroom. Parents may also want to see how their child is performing on school projects, hence, Wikispaces and other online uploading grounds are a great way to let parents view what students are doing in your class and to let them share with others.
Wiki's that we love:
www.cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com
http://ipads4school.wikispaces.com/
http://assistivetechnologyresources.wikispaces.com/
http://edtechdiva.wikispaces.com/Assistive+Technology
http://transformation-technology.wikispaces.com/
http://k3classroomtech.wikispaces.com/Classroom+Wikis
http://driscoll-class.wikispaces.com/= example of a class wikispace
http://eld308learningclubs.wikispaces.com/home= ELD 307 learning clubs wikispaces
http://riderstem.wikispaces.com/Wiki+Home= the STEM summer internship's wikispace
http://laurapantin.wikispaces.com/= use as an online portfolio too!
http://ipads4students.wikispaces.com/= by our very own Suzanne Carbonaro
Edmodo
Edmodo is a safe and secure social network for teachers and students to connect, collaborate, and communicate. You may find that it looks similar to other popular social networking sites; however, Edmodo is completely devoted to education and is designed entirely for continued learning outside the classroom. Teachers can post education content such as articles or websites, homework assignments, and students’ grades and students can access it from anywhere. Students can even respond to teachers via notes or posts, and on these same boards can teachers hold discussions with students about a specific topic of study or current events. Edmodo's goal is to assist educators in using social media to customize the classroom for their learners. Edmodo promotes anytime, anyplace learning. Teachers can also invite other teachers to Edmodo and share with them content and materials, ideas and plans, or just simply network with them. Edmodo is a tool that will empower educators to embrace social media and use it wisely in connecting with parents and students in the nontraditional school setting. Connecting and informing parents and students is now safe and professional thanks to Edmodo.
My Edmodo